Monthly Archives: September 2016

The district is required by law to give us an IEP every 12 months. On the first day of school, I asked about it. The school’s special-needs coordinator, Mary, said she was working on it. I guess we had to have it done by September 22, or something? Then it turned out we couldn’t rally Dar’s entire team by then. So Mary came to me a little embarrassed, and asked if we could schedule something small, just to meet the…Continue Reading »

For a little fun relief in the heat of this election season, I recently watched the trailer for the 1993 film The Pelican Brief. You should too! Check it out. 1:28 of awesome. They don’t make trailers like this anymore. But they did. Oh, how they did. It used to seem that every trailer was made this way. These days, there’s a whole grass-roots cottage industry devoted to making trailers NOT look like this one; the “Honest Trailers” series is only the most…Continue Reading »

2004’s Presidential election was all about terror and the military. Deep in the throes of an Iraq War that was already supposed to be over, the first post-9/11 Presidential election turned on strategy, patriotism, war details; John Kerry entered the Democratic convention “reporting for duty” while Republicans asked why Bush’s 1960s military record, or lack of, was suddenly an issue again. Not a word about ceilings or feelings. Twelve years later, the entire election is about ceilings and feelings. Hillary…Continue Reading »

Tonight comes a much-anticipated event in the disabled community (if there is a disabled community): the premiere of “Speechless” on ABC. If you haven’t heard about it, read up. I’ll be watching with high hopes and plenty of forgiveness. The show shouldn’t have to feel like it’s walking on eggshells when viewed by parents of handicapped, non-verbal kids like mine. There’s room for mistakes. There’s room for making jokes about things that might offend some people. Godspeed and good luck,…Continue Reading »

Did you see Tatiana Maslany’s win the Emmy for Best Actress in a TV Drama last night? I mean, could you believe that? No, I don’t mean that her win was undeserved. Far from it. I mean the reaction from Maslany’s ostensible peers. Take another look. No, there’s nothing wrong with the sound on your playback device. Tatiana Maslany wins Emmy, crowd goes meh. I’m going to give you some words for that kind of applause. Tepid. Perfunctory. Halfhearted. Languid.…Continue Reading »

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This will be a quick and dirty blog post. Partly that’s because I’m on a major book deadline crunch and I’m kidding myself if I think I can keep up this blog at the same time. Another part is that at this moment I’m very frustrated with Dar’s current level of support and it would probably be smart of me to let things shake out before I take a magnifying glass to it. However, I’ll get just a few items…Continue Reading »

Per the blog post title, email me the Top Ten at danielsmithrowsey@yahoo.com, thanks. No fair choosing ten films from the same director. Your list should reflect the same diversity we expect from all previous Top Ten lists, ever. I think it’s time I weighed in on Nate Parker and The Birth of a Nation (2016). If you haven’t heard, in January, at Sundance, Lionsgate paid a record $17.5 million to acquire an independent film that tells the story of Nat…Continue Reading »

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On the 15th anniversary of 9/11, I want to tell you something that neither the left nor the right wants to admit, for different reasons: our current obsession with “identity politics” happened because of 9/11. In other words, Donald Trump, who has built an entire campaign on opposition to political correctness, and Hillary Clinton, who has markedly turned away from the Democrats’ old labor coalition to embrace metropolitan priorities, pluralism, and “the woman card,” are both results of 9/11. May…Continue Reading »

“I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied.” – John Masefield, 1902 “His legs bestride the ocean; his rear’d arm Crested the world; his voice was propertied As all the tuned spheres, and that to friends; But when he meant to quail and shake the orb, He was as rattling thunder.” – Shakespeare, “Antony and Cleopatra”, 1607 “Listen! you hear the…Continue Reading »